Ash carries Pikachu as he continues on toward Viridian City. Having gained his trust, Ash receives a lick from Pikachu. The pair trek toward Viridian, still in need of the Pokémon Center, but briefly take the time to wonder what else lies ahead of them on their journey.

Ash carries Pikachu as he continues on toward Viridian City. Having gained his trust, Ash receives a lick from Pikachu. The pair trek toward Viridian, still in need of the Pokémon Center, but briefly take the time to wonder what else lies ahead of them on their journey.

This is one of the few episodes storyboarded by executive producer Kunihiko Yuyama

Pokémon - I Choose You! (Japanese: ポケモン！ きみにきめた！Pokémon! I Choose You!) is the very first episode of the Pokémon anime. In the US, however, the first episode shown was Battle Aboard the St. Anne. It was first broadcast in Japan on April 1, 1997 and in the United States on September 8, 1998.

A remastered version of the episode was shown on Pokémon Smash! on April 1, 2012 to celebrate the anime's fifteenth anniversary. Only the episode itself was remastered; the opening and ending sequences, as well as the eyecatch, were not shown at all.

Contents

Synopsis

The episode begins like the opening of Pokémon Red and Green, down to the animation and sound effects. A Nidorino and a Gengar are exchanging attacks in a battle. After Nidorino dodges Gengar's attack, it leaps at it. The scene seamlessly comes to life as the small game screen enlarges and the monochrome Pokémon gain color and detail.

The two are battling in a stadium at the Pokémon League, watched by crowds of fans. Gengar dodges Nidorino's Horn Attack, and then jumps on its head. It leaps backward and successfully puts its opponent to sleep with Hypnosis. As Nidorino falls asleep, its Trainer returns it to its Poké Ball and then throws out another to take its place. Gengar jumps back as an Onix comes out. It tries to Tackle into Gengar head-first, but misses and hits the battlefield instead. It pulls back up, unfazed.

His mother enters the room and reminds him that it is 11 o'clock at night and he should be asleep. He complains that he is too excited to fall asleep. As a compromise, his mother changes his television's channel to Professor Oak's lecture and tells him to go to bed when the program is finished.

That night, he dreams about deciding which starter Pokémon he wants. First, he dreams of choosing and sending out Bulbasaur, and then Squirtle. The night turns to morning, and Ash, still in bed, dreams of choosing Charmander. He suddenly awakens to find that he has thrown his Voltorb-shaped alarm clock in his sleep, breaking it against a wall as a result. Afraid that he may have overslept, Ash runs out of his house in his pajamas and shoes to get to Professor Oak's Laboratory.

Outside the laboratory, a crowd of people have gathered, including a group of cheerleaders. Ash pushes through and bumps into his rival, the professor's grandson, Gary Oak. Gary taunts Ash for being late. He tells Ash that he has already received his starter Pokémon from his grandfather. He boasts to the crowd that he will make Pallet Town famous by becoming a Pokémon Master. Ash, however, is more interested in finding out which starter Gary chose. Gary only tells him that it was the best one and then leaves in a red sports car, followed by the crowd.

Before Ash can fully express his frustration, Professor Oak approaches him. Ash's mood changes from anger to excitement as he asks about getting a Pokémon. Professor Oak seems doubtful that he is ready since he has shown up in his pajamas, but Ash insists that he is.

Inside Oak's laboratory, three Poké Balls are set up on a storage device, with a place for a fourth in the center. Ash decides that he would like to start with Squirtle, but when he opens the Poké Ball, he finds that it is empty. Professor Oak tells him it was taken by a Trainer who was not late. After this, Ash decides he would like Bulbasaur, but this Poké Ball is also empty. He has no choice but to go for the last choice, Charmander, but the final Poké Ball is also empty. The three were all taken by Trainers who arrived on time, and it seems that there is no Pokémon left for Ash.

Professor Oak reluctantly mentions that he has another Pokémon, but there is a problem with it. Ash wants it anyway. In the fourth spot in the middle, a Poké Ball appears that has a lightning bolt mark on it. Oak picks it up and hands the Poké Ball to Ash. With a flash of light, Pikachu comes out of the Ball. Ash loves the cute Pokémon, picks him up, and hugs him. Pikachu does not like this and shocks him with an Electric attack. Oak hands Ash a Pokédex and six Poké Balls, but gets shocked as well when he touches Ash.

When Ash steps outside the laboratory, he finds a small crowd has gathered to cheer him on, including his mother, who is sad to see him leaving. She gives him his backpack full of supplies and starts explaining everything she packed for him. Ash gets embarrassed when she reminds him to change his underwear every day and pulls his backpack away from her, telling her she was embarrassing him. She sees Pikachu and wonders why he is not in his Poké Ball. Ash tries to get him in, but he hits the Ball back every time. Ash's mother says it is cute that Ash and Pikachu are playing catch and that they must be great friends already. Ash replies that they are buddies, despite Pikachu's behavior. His mother calls Pikachu weird, and an offended Pikachu shocks the entire crowd (excluding Professor Oak) with electricity.

Ash then sets off, trying to get a handle on the rebellious Pokémon by wearing rubber gloves and dragging him with a clothesline leash. After getting tired of dragging Pikachu along, he tries to talk to him and find out what is wrong, only to find out that he cannot say anything but his name. Ash fails to convince Pikachu to get back into his Poké Ball and pulls out his new Pokédex for information on the matter. His Pokédex explains that Pokémon must be kept in the Poké Ball. Pikachu clicks the Pokédex, which then also explains that not all Pokémon like to be kept in Poké Balls. Ash decides to earn Pikachu's trust by treating him nicely. He unties the clothesline and takes off his rubber gloves, but Pikachu turns away from him.

A Pidgey walks out near them and Ash scans it with his Pokédex for more information. He is eager to catch it, though Pikachu does not want to help him and instead runs up a tree. Frustrated, Ash decides to catch the Pidgey without Pikachu's help. He throws a Poké Ball at it, but the Pidgey breaks out easily. The Pokédex explains that a Pokémon should be weakened before it can be caught. Pikachu laughs at Ash. Ash tries again, this time attempting to throw his pajama shirt on top of the Pidgey, but the Tiny Bird Pokémon blows him off with a Gust and then hits him with a Sand-Attack, before flying away. Pikachu laughs at Ash more. Ash turns and sees that a Rattata is digging through his backpack. He scans it with his Pokédex, which mentions that Rattata is a forest Pokémon. Just as Ash questions why it came out into the field, the Pokédex explains that it sometimes leaves its habitat to steal from stupid travelers. Pikachu laughs at Ash even more.

Ash turns and notices a group of Pidgey in the field. He throws a rock at them, which only scares them away. However, he sees another bird Pokémon in the field and throws a rock at it, which hits it in the back of its head. When it turns to look at him, however, he realizes that he did not hit a Pidgey; he scans it with his Pokédex and learns that it is a Spearow, which is considerably less docile than a Pidgey. The Spearow swoops down at Ash several times to attack him, and then spots and targets Pikachu instead. The Pokédex explains that wild Pokémon sometimes show jealousy toward trained Pokémon. Just as the Spearow is about to knock Pikachu out of the tree, Pikachu shocks it with an Electric attack, and it falls from the sky.

The Spearow gets back up and cries for help in the form of its large flock of other Spearow, from which Ash and Pikachu start running away. Pikachu runs ahead of Ash and the Spearow fly after him, attacking him until he collapses. The Spearow swarm around Pikachu, but Ash grabs his injured Pikachu and runs straight to a waterfall. He jumps into the river below to escape the Spearow and is dragged into a large pond, narrowly swimming out of the path of a Gyarados.

On the shore of this pond, a girl is fishing, and is excited to find that she has a bite. However, instead of a Water-type Pokémon, she pulls out Ash and Pikachu. She does not care about Ash, but is very concerned about the injured Pokémon in his arms. She tells him that he needs to take it to the Pokémon Center in Viridian City, and points out the way to go. At that moment, Ash hears the distant cries of Spearow and turns to see the flock flying toward him from afar. He steals the girl's bike, puts Pikachu in its basket, and rides away promising that he will bring it back someday. The girl yells at him as he rides away, but he ignores her.

Ash rides quickly towards Viridian City, with storm clouds forming above him and the flock of Spearow in close pursuit. Soon, it starts to rain. After the Spearow gather around him, Ash rides the bike over a ledge and it falls on its side, knocking Ash and Pikachu off. Ash finds himself looking at his injured Pikachu lying on the ground, with the Spearow approaching and the storm growing worse. Desperate to save his Pokémon, he leaves Pikachu's Poké Ball next to him and tells him to get inside for safety. Ash then spreads out his arms and stands before the Spearow, declaring that he will capture them all and eventually become a Pokémon Master. Ash then tells them to attack him. However, just as the Spearow are diving at Ash, Pikachu leaps up and over Ash's shoulder to confront the flock of Spearow. The lightning from the storm is drawn to Pikachu, striking him and vastly increasing his power. Pikachu unleashes a massive discharge of electricity that lights up the dark sky and takes out the entire flock of Spearow, as well as the girl's bike. Pikachu is drained of stamina from the effort.

Once the storm has cleared, Ash and Pikachu both rise from where they were knocked back on the ground, exhausted but victorious. Ash looks up and sees a shimmering, golden Pokémon majestically flying through the sky and over the rainbow that had been left after the storm, but his Pokédex is unable to identify the species, saying that some Pokémon are still unknown.

Ash carries Pikachu as he continues on toward Viridian City. Having gained his trust, Ash receives a lick from Pikachu. The pair trek toward Viridian, still in need of the Pokémon Center, but briefly take the time to wonder what else lies ahead of them on their journey.

The beginning of the episode features sound effects from the original Game Boy games, drawing from the opening animation from Pokémon Red and Green (with a Gengar battling a Nidorino) before moving seamlessly into the battle that Ash himself is watching on TV.

Ash has a Voltorb clock with a cuckoo Pidgey in it. Furthermore, he ends up breaking it in his sleep, unknowingly using it as a Poké Ball shortly after 4 AM.

When Ash speaks to Gary, Gary acts as though they have never met, saying "Well, you must be Ash"; however, they have in fact known each other since their early childhood.

The order in which Ash opens the starters' empty Poké Balls indicates his preferred choices; namely, Squirtle first, Bulbasaur second, and Charmander last.

Professor Oak knew that at least four new Trainers would be receiving their starter Pokémon and beginning their journey. However, he only ever thought to stock three (a Bulbasaur, a Charmander, and a Squirtle) not counting Pikachu, who was seen as a "last resort." Professor Oak states that if Ash was early, there would be one for him. However, even if Ash was earlier (the third to arrive), the Trainer to arrive fourth would find that Oak is fresh out of Pokémon, except for Pikachu.

This is one of the few episodes in which Rachael Lillis provides the voice of Pikachu in a few scenes of the dub. This happened when another Japanese voice actor spoke over Ikue Ohtani's Pikachu voice and the audio could not be used.

In this same scene, the starters look significantly different between the shot of the whole television and the close-up of the screen. Charmander, for instance, has a much larger tail flame and more open mouth in the close-up.

When Ash throws the Poké Balls containing Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle in his dream, both sides of the Balls are red. This was fixed in the scenes of the Balls releasing the Pokémon.

As Ash is running to Professor Oak to collect his first Pokémon, the top button on his pajamas changes from green to yellow.

The sneakers that Delia hands Ash are the same ones he is already wearing.

After Gary tells Ash that he has his Pokémon inside its Poké Ball, the order of Gary's cheerleaders reversed.

If all three starters had already been taken, then the Poké Balls containing them should be with their Trainers, as Gary's is, and not with Professor Oak.

After Ash opens Charmander's Poké Ball in Oak's lab, part of Oak's coat unnaturally changes position as he speaks.

As Pikachu's Poké Ball opens with a strobe-like flash of light, the background behind Ash differs greatly between the two frames. The buttons and features of the large machine change position and size. Also, the table and beaker in front of it change position and shape, respectively.

When Ash opens his Pokédex for the first time, the directional buttons are not present.

When Pikachu is up in the tree, Ash's coat loses its yellow stripes, but they return later on.

In the Japanese version, the Pokédex misidentifies Pidgey as the Sky Pokémon instead of the Tiny Bird Pokémon.

When Ash sees the Spearow flock again after Misty tells him where the nearest Pokémon Center is, his shoes are not colored, making it look like he only has white socks on. Then, when he puts Pikachu on her bike, his shoes are colored normally.

When Ash places Pikachu's Poké Ball on the ground, his thumb passes right through it when he stands up to face the flock of Spearow.

When Ash is standing in front of the Spearow trying to protect Pikachu, he says "Spearows," but the plural of a specific species of Pokémon is the same as the singular.

As Ash looks at Ho-Oh at the end of the episode, his hat points backward as it had since he jumped into the river. As he walks uphill in the next scene, it points forward. When he gets to the top and looks at Viridian City, it points backward again. Lastly, as we see him from behind as he walks toward Viridian, his hat points forward again.

Changes

Dub edits

The cut shot

During the shot of the whole television and Ash moving his head into view, Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle have their Japanese names written below their pictures. The names are gone during and after the close-up, however.

When Ash goes into Professor Oak's lab and looks at the Poké Balls, they are all labeled in Japanese. Later, when Ash picks up a Poké Ball, the labels are painted over. These labels are also partially visible when Pikachu's Poké Ball is revealed.

In the Japanese version, after Ash said to Misty, "ありがとう," she slapped him. This was cut from the dub (the screen freezes just as Ash answers Misty) due to physical violence. In the next scene, Ash can clearly be seen rubbing his aching face and Misty has her hand in the air.

In the Japanese version, Misty tells Ash there is a hospital in Viridian City; in the dub, she just says that it is nearby.

Differences between the episode and the comic adaptation

The opening League Battle was shortened, cutting out the reference to the Game Boy opening scene.

Ash's attempt at catching Rattata was cut.

Ash's escape through the river was shortened, only showing the first swimming distance. Gyarados and Ash's attempt to swim away from it were cut.

In the ending of the episode, after Pikachu licks Ash, Ash was silent, though his gratefulness for finally earning Pikachu's respect is still implied. In the comic, it has Ash either saying or thinking, "Hey, Pikachu really does like me!"